Asirpa
Asirpa (アシㇼパ) is a young girl from the Ainu tribe and the deuteragonist of Golden Kamuy. Appearance Asirpa is a small Ainu girl with a petite frame, as evidenced by her thin legs that are not covered by thick layers of cloth. She has long dark hair and blue eyes with tints of green. Asirpa wears a typical white Ainu coat complete with swirling motif at the edges of the cloth over a purple band. The tunic itself covers several layers of thick cloth in order to protect from the cold. She also wear dark pants and deerskin boots named Yukker. ''Asirpa also wears fur made from Retar's parents to cover herself in the wild. Moreover, Asirpa wears a number of accessories, most notably a dark headband with swirling motif called a "matanpushi", matching "tekunpe" hand coverings, and two "ninkari" earrings. In warmer weather, she can be seen wearing a "rekutunpe" necklace. Asirpa also carries with her many items, most notably her long bow and quiver, but also several knives in carved sheathes. Gallery Asirpa Anime Concept.png|Asirpa Anime Concept Asirpa Anime.jpg|Asirpa (Anime) Asirpa Anime 2.jpg|Asirpa (Anime 2) Personality When Asirpa is introduced, she seems to be a cold and unforgiving young girl. However, as she warms up to Sugimoto, she exposes a more jovial side. As a hunter, Asirpa is aware of the cruelty of nature and thus is mature for a child. She is aware that in the wilderness, weakness leads to death and thus is very pragmatic about survival. She often acts serious when on a hunt or when discussing her goal of finding the treasure and may seem cold to others. On the flip side, Asirpa is a spirited and jolly girl obsessed with eating and is enthusiastic if there's a prey to catch. She is generally friendly and acts polite with elders, but is more familiar with younger people or Japanese. Asirpa mostly respects her culture and preaches the Ainu way of life. She has a deep respect for nature and considers animals as gods, therefore always honoring her prey and everything she uses as gifts from the Kamuy. She will never eat the meat from an man-killing animal. However, Asirpa dismisses other customs such as tattooing her mouth and doesn't believe in divination. Stubborn and sometimes domineering, Asirpa isn't intimidated by adults or danger; she notably can pressure Sugimoto into eating disgusting body parts with a severe look. Makanakkuru mentions that she was already rather stubborn as a young child, but also was saddened by her father's death, to the point she never smiled and depended on Retar for emotional support. However, Asirpa has developed a good friendship with Sugimoto, which Makanakkuru notes has given Asirpa back her smile. Background As a very young girl, Asirpa received a ''hohciri from her father and was told that once she gets bigger, they will go on a hunt together but until then she must keep the hohciri tied in front of her hair. Plot (from chapter 70 onwards) After the ordeal with the bears and the yakuza, and successfully getting her great-aunt's clothing back, Asirpa spots a bow hanging on the wall and reaches for it, saying that the craftmanship is incredible. Dun tells her that he got it from a famous hunter in Hidaka and that he'd like for her to have it since her previous bow had been broken in the battle with the bears. In return, he'd like to know about the tattoo that they are after, however Sugimoto shoots him down saying that for his safety, it is best that he not know. (70) Afterwards, the group returns to Huci's sister's kotan, and to prepare for the dinner that night, she and Sugimoto heads out to grab some plants. During the harvest, she tells him about the various plants that the Ainu people eats and how the Ainu people prepare for the summer and winter seasons. They return to the village and see Kiroranke and Shiraishi who were able to catch some fishes. Later that night, they sit around a hot pot of Icaniw ohaw and merrily eats it. Asirpa falls asleep and has a dream about her father, then she wakes up to find Shiraishi snoring and drooling in front of her. She angrily hits him with her stick and leaves the hut saying that Abashiri is still a long way away. (73) In Yubari, Asirpa is trying to sell the bear's gall bladder to a buyer, but he tries to scam her by giving her less money than it's worth. When the buyer continues to act stubborn, Sugimoto and Kiroranke approaches and threatens him, with Shiraishi trying to break them apart. Later on, they head to a river and have fun splashing around and catching some lampreys to eat. After eating unaju made with lamprey and hearing Kiroranke tell of an Ainu legend, Asirpa makes a dirty joke at Shiraishi's expense. The group heads back to Yubari, where they split up with Sugimoto and Shiraishi in one party while Asirpa and Kiroranke goes around town asking for information. Just then, there is a loud explosion from the Yubari coal mines and Asirpa and Kiroranke along with the Yubari citizens can only watch the pillars of smokes with a concerned look on their faces. Asirpa and Kiroranke along with the other Yubari citizens made their way to the Yubari mines where they spotted Ushiyama carrying Sugimoto and Shiraishi out from the mines. Upon seeing him, Asirpa instantly recognized him and pulled out a hanpen. When Ogata approached them and offered to explain the situation to everyone, they were taken to the Edogai store where he revealed Tsurumi's plan to them, much to their shock. The group are then approached by Hijikata carrying a cat and a tattooed skin, saying that they have to figure out whether the skin is real or not. As Hijikata enters the room and speaks with Sugimoto about Noppera-Bou, Asirpa speaks up and is about to refer to him as her father. However, Hijikata cuts her off by threatening to draw his sword and demands whether they should join forces or fight to the death. Shinpachi Nagakura then come and tells Sugimoto's group to sell the skins and lead quiet lives back home, to which Sugimoto refuses. The tense mood is broken due to Asirpa's stomach loudly grumbling and Ienaga suggests that they eat something. The two parties then sit around a table and a pot of nanko nabe. Asirpa quietly eats her food as Sugimoto begins to provoke Ogata. When Hijikata voices his concerns about distinguishing the fake skins from the real one, Ienaga says that she may know someone who may help, a counterfeit artist named Chouan Kumagishi. Some time later, Asirpa heads to the mines along with Sugimoto and Ushiyama to find Sergeant Tsukishima's corpse but are unable to locate it. They return to the store to find that it has been set on fire and were able to rescue Ienaga when Ushiyama breaks the bars off of the windows. Once Sugimoto, Hijikata, and Ogata had successfully left the store, the group as a whole returns to the town where they agreed to split up in order to remain inconspicuous. Asirpa and Sugimoto heads out to Tsukigata along with their new partners, Ushiyama and Ogata while Hijikata and Ienaga meets up with Kiroranke, Shiraishi, and Nagakura. The four of them take an off route path through a forest in order to avoid being spotted by anyone that can alert their position to the 7th Division. Asirpa spots some woodcocks and when Sugimoto asks if they taste good, she confirms that their brains do. She spots Ogata taking aim at them and tells him not shoot as woodcocks have an erratic flying pattern and suggests that they set some traps. The next day, she is irritated as her traps has caught only two woodcocks and plucks their feathers off violently. They are approached by Ogata who was able to shoot down three birds and when Sugimoto notes that Ogata must've done it since he got worked up by Asirpa's words, Asirpa says Sugimoto must be jealous since he has terrible aim, to which he denies it. They cook up some woodcock brains and Asirpa offers it to Ushiyama who is extremely nervous about eating it, but Ogata declines to eat it. Afterwards, they begin chopping up the body to make some citatap and Asirpa to make an ohaw which they all eat. She tells them about an Ainu religious love poem which Sugimoto and Ushiyama enjoys. They spent at least one night sleeping in the forest and were able to make their way to an Ainu kotan. However, Asirpa says she does not have any relatives in this kotan and says it is her first time coming here. They are greeted by an Ainu man that is proficient in speaking Japanese. Ushiyama points out a cage behind them, and Sugimoto sees that the bear is too big to fit in the cage. When Sugimoto questions about the bear cage, the Ainu man says the bear simply grew too fast and that they will move it. He then introduces himself as Ekurok and says that his "father", Retanno Ekasi is the leader of the village and that they should ask him for permission to stay. They are led to his house where an Ainu man comes out and sees them only to go back inside immediately to begin cleaning. When Ushiyama asks if they are ready yet, Asirpa tells them a story about several important government officials that got caught in rain and couldn't enter an Ainu house due to them cleaning, which took so long that the rain stopped. The young man comes out and leads them inside and Asirpa begins to take off her bandanna before deciding against it. Inside, they meet Retanno Ekasi who begins to gesture to them before Asirpa says "Musonkami" which catches everyone by surprise. When Ekurok is introducing his "family", Asirpa interrupts them again to go to the bathroom and leaves the house. Outside, she heads to the bear cage and sees that it has been poorly fed before being grabbed from behind. She is tied and gagged and taken to another house by Ekurok's Brother who asks Kumagishi to keep an eye on her. Asirpa is able to free her mouth to ask why they are pretending to be Ainu. Asirpa explains that "musonkami" is an insult in the Ainu language and saw that the men had no idea what it meant. She began listing off other evidences of them not being Ainu before asking once more why they are pretending to be Ainu. Kumagishi covers her mouth and tells her to be quiet while explaining the true nature of the men, that they would kill anyone who came to the village and that they were originally convicts that escaped from Kabato Prison due to the assistance of a man named Kiyohiro Suzukawa. Asirpa asked him why he was broken out as well, and Kumagishi says that he has been confined to make counterfeit money by Suzukawa. As he is freeing Asirpa so that she could go out and ask for help, she asks him if Suzukawa had strange tattoos on his body. They suddenly hear Sugimoto's loud scream which Asirpa notes as being the long-eared monster. As Sugimoto's yell could be heard throughout the whole village, Kumagishi says that he cannot stop the convicts that will come after him and that he feels sorry for Sugimoto. However, Asirpa says that since Sugimoto is angry, he should feel more sorry for the fake Ainu. Asirpa hears Sugimoto calling for him but before she could leave, one of the convicts comes in and sees that Kumagishi is letting her go. The convict was then knocked out by Monoa who has rallied the village's women to strike back. Kumagishi looks out and sees that it is total chaos and that they should take this opportunity to escape but Asirpa refuses since they need him alive. She then tells him about her situation and confirms if he really is the counterfeiter Chouan Kumagishi. He reveals the reason why he started making counterfeit money and is about to say something to Asirpa before Sugimoto runs by, calling out her name. When Sugimoto is about to fire at Kumagishi, Asirpa is able to stop him and reveal that the man with her is Kumagishi. Suddenly, an arrow flies past Sugimoto and hits Kumagishi who lets out a groan of pain. As Kumagishi falls to his knees, Asirpa shouts out his name. They realize that the arrowhead has been coated in poison and that there is nothing they can do since it was lodged in Kumagishi's stomach. With his dying breath, Kumagishi gave them a clue on how to find evidences in counterfeit pieces and Asirpa steps outside, confirming his death. She is horrified to find numerous dead bodies in front of her eyes and Ogata says that it was mostly Sugimoto's work. Sugimoto comes out and puts a hand on her shoulder asking if she is hurt as she could only stare at him in bewilderment. They help the Ainu women bury the dead convicts and Asirpa translating for the Ainu women says that they want to express their thanks and treat the group to dishes made with the year's harvest of turep. As they ready the ingredients, Asirpa explains to her group about how to prepare the food. Once they had finished, they begin to eat the turep which they enjoyed. When Sugimoto takes out his miso, Aisrpa immediately grabs and eats it, calling it miso which causes the Ainu women to be suspicious. She hands the miso to them which they found to be delicious as well and begins to praise her. After they had finished enjoying themselves, Sugimoto's Group deliberates on what they should do with Kiyohiro Suzukawa. Ogata says that he'll just be a pain and that they should just kill and skin him with Asirpa questioning if he's going to kill a defenseless man. Sugimoto decides to take him along since they are in a hurry and they can talk with Hijikata about what to do with him. She helps translate for the Ainu women that they want Ushiyama to stay and repopulate the village due to him taking down a bear, but Sugimoto and Suzukawa carries him away despite his insistence. She tells her group that they do not have to worry about the Ainu women, that they are not weak, and that they will bring their kotan back to life. The group as a whole then says their farewells to the Ainu kotan. They make their way back to Tsukigata and meet up with Nagakura at the inn. Nagakura says that he has two pieces of bad news, the first which is that Kumagishi is dead and they are surprised that he already knew. Asirpa asks what the other bad news is and Nagakura tells them that Shiraishi has been captured by the 7th Division. Once Hijikata and Kiroranke returned from their mission and informed the rest of them that they had failed to rescue Shiraishi, everyone thought about what to do before deciding to leave Shiraishi to his fate since they already had a copy of his tattoo. However, Sugimoto refuses and says that he wants to save Shiraishi and pulls over Suzukawa, saying that they could use his skills as a con artist. ... ... ... Kiroranke's group comes to a Russian village where Kiroranke and Ogata decides to do some information gathering and Shiraishi offers to Asirpa to have some tea in a nearby building. Unbeknownst to them, they were followed by Maiharu Gansoku who recognizes Shiraishi as a fellow tattooed convict. Inside, Shiraishi tries to comfort Asirpa about what happened with her father and says that he believes that Sugimoto may be alive. Asirpa responded that Sugimoto cannot be dead as he is "Sugimoto the Immortal" after all. Later, when Kiroranke and Ogata were unable to find any information in the village, they departed for their next destination. Kiroranke's group finds some sea lions off of the coast of Karafuto so they decided to hunt them. Asirpa was able to finish off a wounded sea lion that had been shot by Ogata and tried to swim away. She helps Kiroranke cut up the sea lion and gives the meat to Ogata and Shiraishi. When Ogata expresses concern that he could not kill the sea lion, Asirpa tells him that they have thick skulls and that he should keep in mind not to aim for the head before happily gorging herself on the sea lion meat. Once they had finished their hunt, Shiraishi asked what they will do with the sea lion skin and Asirpa informed him that they can make some torar, long and durable leather straps that can be used to bind or tie various things up and that they can also use the sea lion oil as seasoning for foods. They are then approached by a Karafuto Ainu man who offers to buy their sea lion skin as well as provide information on where they can sell their meats and innards. With that, they come to a fox breeding facility and are greeted by the owner there. Asirpa notes that most of the foxes on the farm are setunpe kamuy, benevolent gods. When Kiroranke asked the owner about an Ainu village in the area, Asirpa asked him if she knew someone here. Kiroranke tells her that the Ainu village that used to be in their spot was the village where her father Wilk was born. Asirpa asked where everyone went and learned from Kiroranke the grim history of the village. He then tells her that her father believed that she is the light of hope and that she will soon learn the answer about her father in Karafuto. Afterwards, she went to observe the foxes as Kiroranke and Ogata silenty held their conversation about her and her father. Kiroranke's group goes out to do some hunting and Asirpa encounters musk deers for the first time. Ogata shoots and kills one, which Asirpa and Kiroranke carves up. When Asirpa asks if their meat tastes good, Kiroranke denies it and says that the only useful part is the male's musk gland, which he takes out. Kiroranke offers to let Aisrpa smell it, and she reacts strongly to the smell, saying that it stinks. Kiroranke then begins to talk about his younger days with Wilk, which catches Asirpa's interest and he spoke about the time Wilk took down his first prey and cut his hohciri off. This triggers a long lost memory of her father to come back to her and she says that thanks to the musk deer, she felt like she saw a part of her father she never knew and that she was able to recall a memory that she had forgotten. In the middle of her travels, Asirpa came upon a freshly laid mound of feces and became excited, thinking that a large prey must be nearby. However, Shiraishi revealed that it belongs to him since he had just pooped earlier. Abilities and Equipments Trapping, hunting, poison brewing, Ainu cuisine, knowledge of traditional medicine, deep knowledge of Hokkaido's flora and fauna, harsh winter survival. Trivia Her father named her Asirpa, which mean "new year" but can also mean "future". Her childhood name was Ekasiotonpuy, which means "grandfather's butthole". Her Japanese name is Asuko Kochoube (小蝶辺明日子) (コチョウべアスコ). Asirpa likes salted brains and Sugimoto's osoma ''(miso) but dislikes snakes. Asirpa was born sometime in the 1890's. Asirpa's grandmother mentions that Asirpa is almost old enough to start receiving her tattoo. Ainu girls would begin receiving their tattoos when they are about 12-13, putting Asirpa around that age. Quotes ''"Hinna, hinna!" es:Ashiripa ja:アシリパ Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Sugimoto's Group Category:Ainu People